The interests and proposed course of our unit are to cover basic and applied aspects of various pathogenic fungi including their morphology, taxonomy, pathology, epidemiology, biochemistry and genetics. Topics of present interst include: 1) structure of the capsular polysaccharide of serotype A Cryptococcus neoformans, 2) developing a new improved medium for the identification of serotype A-D and B-C group of C. neoformans, 3) phenoloxidase as one of the virulence factors in C. neoformans and 4) a new special staining method for histophathological diagnosis of cryptococcosis.